miracle

those kids in the picture with me on my blog, to the right of this post when initially posted, are alive today by miracle.

the last 72 hours have been tooo full of drama
friday, 7 am: woke up, power was out and fort wayne was covered by ice
no power meant i had no idea how badly the city was affected or if i could drive to work
7:45 am: boss confirms the office has power, get your butt to work
6 pm: arrive home to a cold house and my roommate working by lantern on the floor by a fire
7:30 pm: blackhawk did have power for CWB, but it was a dark drive there
9:30 pm: roommate and i finish packing for the night (me- for the trip home) by candlelight & head to the rohrs house
10 pm: sleepover at the rohrs, all the while discussing questions like "i wonder what all the burmese refugees are doing tonight if they don't have power" and remembering to be thankful we have place to go
saturday, 5 am: wake up and get ready
6 am: Laura has to work at the ER (she's a PA)
6:20 ish...: phone call from Laura as Jeanne drove me to the airport

She had gotten patient permission to tell us that some dear dear friends of ours were in the hospital being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning. This is where the kids in the picture come in, those are some of my dear Somali friends that I have watched grow up over the past 4 1/2 years. Their whole family was being treated. I was told that it seemed like they were all going to be ok, but all I could picture was those kids lying on hospital beds hooked up to oxygen and being so scared, it pained me that I could not run and hug them.

As my day went on...
(7:15 am- I was told my flight was closed, rerouted my whole day/ 9:30 am arrived Detroit, sat there until 4 pm when I finally made it on standby flight to Minneapolis/ 4:40 told we could not depart still because MSP had a runway closed and lots of delays/ 7 arrived MSP exhausted, hungry and emotional/ 9 pm made it to my sisters apartment after standing in luggage lines, taking the light rail, bus, walking in the snow...etc)
...I learned more pieces of this story.

Our friends had lost power, so had their relatives. They were cold and hungry, so the mother decided to cook for her children. Her best of intentions were to care for her family during this situation of no power and cold weather. In the refugee camps in Africa she could cook inside of the home (tents, huts), so she did that Friday night over a charcoal fire. Sometime after the kids began eating, everyone began getting very sick. They were vomiting and passing out one by one. She watched her children all go unconscious, and watched her husband fall down and "his eyes change to dead". By an absolute miracle it seems, the 27-year-old pregnant mother of 7 (+ baby) stayed conscious. She "crawled like a baby" to find a cell phone, the first one was dead. On the second phone she could find she finally reached her twin sister after several calls to reach someone. She told her sister that her family had all died. Sometime after midnight her sister drove there and found them all, and 911 was called. All family members were rushed to two different hospital ERs and released some 6-8 hours later.

You know by now this term I use, "I Spy" when sharing or recording the ways God worked. So here goes"

I Spy- The mother stayed conscious by a miracle of God, or I believe they would all be dead
I Spy- She was able to reach her sister who came to help
I Spy- my roommate was working in the ER that morning and was able to notify us of what was going on
I Spy- Jeanne was able to go to the hospital from the airport and spend the morning helping our friends
I Spy- All family members were released "ok"
I Spy- God has saved this family

Pray with me for this family please, that there will be no effects of this carbon monoxide poisoning. Pray that they will understand how to prevent this from happening again. Pray that her baby will be carried to full term and born without complication. Pray that this will open the door for us to share with them about Jesus who saves!

As I sat in airports all day and felt like I should be so frustrated that things weren't going as I planned, I had this story unfolding that reminded me at every moment that God is in control. I have no idea why I had to get home 26 hours later than planned, but I trust in a God who sees each one of us and is mighty to save.

Praise Jesus for this miracle of breathing new life into our friends.